Return to Public Glass - Hot Glass Cold Beer

    I was given a hand drawn Treasure Map to an area where some redwoods grow - a place called Portola Redwoods State Park.  Barbara used to go there when she was a little girl, and since I have to tell everyone how much I have wanted to hang out with the Giant Trees all my life, she thought to share this place with me.  It was also right on the way to San Francisco from BAGI.

    You would think that I would have gone straight there.  The lack of fuel & temporary lapse in funding dictated that I proceed directly to Public Glass.  The Redwoods will have to wait. Again.

    I arrived in on Monday afternoon - charge day & shop cleanup.  It was good to be back.  The furnace lost some (but not all) of its decoration, and had been running smoothly since I left in December.  I met up with Evan - with whom I would be staying with - and helped finish up the chores of the shop so we could catch up.
    Dropped the Kids (that's what I have started to call the blow-mold collection) off Tuesday at Todd Tankersley's Studio to have their portraits taken - they are quite spectacular (here's the link).

    I spent some time the next couple of days checking out the city - sold a few of the remaining pipes to a shop on Haight, near Ashbury, which provided me with some much needed cash.  Went to dip the feet in the Pacific Ocean, and walk around Golden Gate Park.  There were all kinds of activities in the park, I chilled out I watched a some music happening.  It is a truly beautiful city, lots of trees - and not just trees, but BIG trees - there is nothing quite like the smell of eucalyptus.

    The week was spent in and out of the hot shop, getting ready for the big day on Saturday - the demo for Hot Glass, Cold Beer & the show, "99 Bowls Made of Glass on the Wall".   The Hot Glass Cold Beer event is pretty neat. The way it works is this: a couple times a week, the studio is open for people in the glass community to come in & practice blowing cups for free.  The cups then go into a collection, which is displayed at the front door on the night of event.  Attendees then pay at the door for a cup, which can be filled all night with beverage of their choice.  There is live music, demonstrations and a show in the gallery.  I hung out for one of the cup slots & brought the molds around for folks to play with.
    The lead up to the event was pretty intense, getting the gallery together, practicing for the demo.  These events are generally well attended - even though they were not expecting a huge crowd (I'm not that well known, you see), it was still going to be one of the biggest crowds I have demonstrated for.  Here are some pics of getting ready - click!
    The time came & let the show begin!  It was so much fun!  It is not very often that I have many assistants and a full shop at my disposal!  Not to mention Live Music to blow glass to!  These guys were playing what seemed like everything out of my "most often played" list. I like to dance & sing when I blow glass, so it was great to know most of the tunes.  Totally unplanned.  The demo went down like this - James was on one bench making little bottles from two of my molds - the design that I have 5 different sizes of - while Evan & I made a bunch of larger ones.  We then started in on a coiling technique that we figured out how to do the day before that would eventually become the neck of the piece.

Stuck them all together & Presto! "Bottle Storm" was born!  I have been dreaming about this piece for about 4 years - the drawback being the resources needed to make it happen.  I did two little ones at FOCI last November - now I REALLY want to keep going - I feel that we have just scratched the surface here.  Hats off to Jason Wertheimer for documenting the demo - Here's a link to an album with loads of pics - Click!  Many Thanks to all who helped this one happen - It was definitely a turning point for me - I think this pic of me at the end of the evening says volumes: